Content Modeling Framework (CMF) API

This section describes how to use the CMF CRUD API to carry out common tasks related to the programmatic handling of CMF documents. The tasks and solutions are given for an imaginary example of a simple CMF document that is described in the following section. It is used in all the examples that follow.

Our sample document describes an imaginary warehouse that is partitioned into Zones, each of which is subdivided into Places. Each Place can contain one or more Parts items. The following data model diagram illustrates the structure of the document.

The code examples used in the following sections assume that a Parts Warehouse CMF Document has been appropriately configured in Aras Innovator.

Figure 27 shows an example of the tabular content as it would be rendered in the CMF Document Viewer. It includes content describing a small warehouse that we will be using in our code samples.

“Part Warehouse 1"	“Part Warehouse 1"	“Part Warehouse 1"
Zone Number	Place Number	Part Number
Zone A	Place B	Part 1
Zone A	Place B	Part 2
Zone A	Place C	Part 10
Zone A	Place C	Part 11
Zone B	Place D	Part 20
Zone B	Place E	Part 21

Zones, Places and Parts are identified by their “numbers” – a string property that contains a “name” / “identifier” of an item. For instance, in the sample warehouse above the warehouse named “Part Warehouse 1" contains two zones “Zone A” and “Zone B.”

Task:

Load the CMF Document data from an external source (jsonObject).

Solution description:

We are going to write a method that, given a Parts Warehouse CMF Document and the document content in JSON format (method parameter names documentId and jsonDocument respectively), loads the document content into the Parts Warehouse CMF Document. The Parts Warehouse CMF Document is assumed to be empty at the start of the method execution. We will use part numbers to look for related parts in Aras Innovator in the json document.

Here is what our sample warehouse data looks like in JSON format:

{

 “zones” : [

 {

 “number” : “Zone A”,

 “places” : [

 {

 “number": “Place B”,

 “partLinks” : [

 {

 “partNumber” : “Part 1"

 },

 {

 “partNumber” : “Part 2"

 }

 ],

 },

 {

 “number": “Place C”,

 “partLinks” : [

 {

 “partNumber” : “Part 10"

 },

 {

 “partNumber” : “Part 20"

 }

 ],

 }]

 }]

}

Method:

JavaScript

function loadCMFDocument(documentId, jsonDocument) {

 var innovator = aras.newIOMInnovator();

 for (var i = 0; i < jsonDocument.zones.length; i++) {

 var zone = jsonDocument.zones[i];

 // we need to have identifier to connect elements between each other (parent-child)

 var zoneId = aras.generateNewGUID();

 // create “zone” cmf element using “cmf_addElement” action

 createZoneElement(zone, zoneId);

 var places = zone.places;

 for (var j = 0; j < places.length; j++) {

 var place = places[j];

 var placeId = aras.generateNewGUID();

 // create “place” cmf element using “cmf_addElement” action

 createPlaceElement(place, placeId, zoneId);

 for (var k = 0; k < place.partLinks.length; k++) {

 var partLink = place.partLinks[k];

 // create “part link” cmf element using “cmf_addElement” action

 createPartLinkElement(partLink, placeId);

 }

 }

 }

 function createZoneElement(zone, id) {

 var element = innovator.newItem(“Zone”, “cmf_addElement”);

 element.setAttribute(“id”, id);

 element.setProperty(“Zone_Number”, zone.number);

 element.setProperty(“document_id”, documentId);

 element.apply();

 }

 function createPlaceElement(place, id, parentId) {

 var element = innovator.newItem(“Place”, “cmf_addElement”);

 element.setAttribute(“id”, id);

 element.setProperty(“Place_Number”, place.number);

 element.setProperty(“document_id”, documentId);

 element.setProperty(“parent_element_id”, parentId);

 element.apply();

 }

 function createPartLinkElement(partLink, parentId) {

 // find part identifier by part number into innovator

 var partId = getPartId(partLink);

 if (partId) { // if didn’t find it then ignore

 var element = innovator.newItem(“Part Link”, “cmf_addElement”);

 element.setProperty(“bound_item_id”, partLink.id);

 element.setProperty(“document_id”, documentId);

 element.setProperty(“parent_element_id”, parentId);

 element.apply();

 } 

 }

 function getPartId(partLink) {

 var partRequest = innovator.newItem(“Part”, “get”);

 partRequest.setProperty(“item_number”, partLink.partNumber);

 var partResponse = partRequest.apply();

 if (partResponse.isError()) {

 // we didn’t find it or we haven’t permissions

 return null;

 } else {

 return partResponse.getID();

 }

 }

}

Task:

Export the existing CMF document into an external datasource (jsonObject).

Solution description:

Write a method that returns a JSON object containing the content for a given Parts Warehouse CMF Document (method paramenter name documentId).

In the following example, the returned JSON object looks like this:

{

 “zones” : [

 {

 “number” : “Zone A”,

 “places” : [

 {

 “number": “Place B”,

 “partLinks” : [

 {

 “partId” : "{ID OF LINKED PART 1}",

 “partNumber": “Part 1"

 },

 {

 “partId” : "{ID OF LINKED PART 2}",

 “partNumber": “Part 2"

 }

 ],

 },

 {

 “number": “Place C”,

 “partLinks” : [

 {

 “partId” : "{ID OF LINKED PART 10}",

 “partNumber": “Part 10"

 },

 {

 “id” : "{ID OF LINKED PART 11}"

 “partNumber": “Part 11"

 }

 ],

 }]

 }]

Method:

JavaScript

function documentToJSON(documentId) {

 var innovator = aras.newIOMInnovator();

 // get all cmf document (“Parts warehouse”) using “cmf_getDocument” action

 var documentItem = innovator.newItem(“Parts warehouse”, “cmf_getDocument”);

 documentItem.setAttribute(“id”, documentId);

 var response = documentItem.apply();

 if (response.isError()) {

 aras.AlertError(response.getErrorDetail());

 return;

 } else {

 // initiate result json object

 var resultDocument = {};

 resultDocument.zones = [];

 var zoneRelationships = response.getRelationships(“Zone”);

 for (var i = 0; i < zoneRelationships.getItemCount() ; i++) {

 // fill zones, their places and part links 

 var zoneObject = createZoneObject(zoneRelationships.getItemByIndex(i));

 resultDocument.zones.push(zoneObject);

 }

 // convert json object into string

 return JSON.stringify(resultDocument);

 }

 function createZoneObject(zone) {

 var zoneNumber = zone.getProperty(“Zone_Number”);

 var zoneId = zone.getAttribute(“id”);

 var zoneObject = { id: zoneId, zoneNumber: zoneNumber, places: [] };

 var placeRelationships = zone.getRelationships(“Place”);

 // fill “places” for particular “zone”

 for (var j = 0; j < placeRelationships.getItemCount() ; j++) {

 var placeObject = createPlaceObject(placeRelationships.getItemByIndex(j));

 zoneObject.places.push(placeObject);

 }

return zoneObject; 

 }

 function createPlaceObject(place) {

 var placeNumber = place.getProperty(“Place_Number”);

 var placeId = place.getAttribute(“id”);

 var placeObject = { id: placeId, placeNumber: placeNumber, parts: [] };

 var partLinkRelationships = place.getRelationships(“Part Link”);

 // fill “part links” for particular “place”

 for (var k = 0; k < partLinkRelationships.getItemCount() ; k++) {

 var partObject = createPartLinkObject(partLinkRelationships.getItemByIndex(k));

 placeObject.parts.push(partObject);

 }

 return placeObject;

 }

 function createPartLinkObject(partLink) {

 var partNumber = partLink.getProperty(“Part_Number”);

 var partId = partLink.getProperty(“bound_item_id”);

 return { partId: partId, partNumber: partNumber };

 }

}

Task:

Find how many Places are in a specific Zone.

Solution description:

We are going to write a method that will return the total number of Place Document Elements that are included in a given Zone (method paramenter name zoneId).

To find, how many Places are in a Zone we will create a request that returns all zone places and then we will count them.

Method:

JavaScript

function getPlaceCount(zoneId) {

 var innovator = aras.newIOMInnovator();

 var zoneElement = innovator.newItem(“Zone”, “cmf_getElement”);

 zoneElement.setAttribute(“id”, zoneId);

 // add child “place” element as a relationship

 var placeElement = innovator.newItem(“Place”);

 zoneElement.addRelationship(placeElement);

 var response = zoneElement.apply();

 if (response.isError()) {

 aras.AlertError(response.getErrorDetail());

 return;

 } else {

 // get all places for the found “zone”

 var relationships = response.getRelationships();

 return relationships.getItemCount();

 }

}

Task:

Obtain all “Part Links” for a given zone.

Solution description:

To get all “Part Links” for a given zone, you need to fetch all the zone “Places” and their “Part Links.” To do this you need to create a request using the following structure:

<Item type="Zone” id="...” action="cmf_getElement">

 <Relationships>

 <Item type="Place">

 <Relationships>

 <Item type="Part Link” />

 </Relationships>

 </Item>

 </Relationships>

</Item>

You are going to write a method that returns the Part Links for a given zone (method parameter name zoneId) returns its Part Links.

Method:

JavaScript

function getPartLinks(zoneId) {

 var innovator = aras.newIOMInnovator();

 // get all places and part links for particular zone

 var zoneElement = innovator.newItem(“Zone”, “cmf_getElement”);

 zoneElement.setAttribute(“id”, zoneId);

 var placeElement = innovator.newItem(“Place”);

 var partLinkElement = innovator.newItem(“Part Link”);

 placeElement.addRelationship(partLinkElement);

 zoneElement.addRelationship(placeElement);

 var response = zoneElement.apply();

 if (!response.isError()) {

 // we can use response.getItemsByXPath("//Item[@type='Part Link’]”);

 // or use loops as shown below

 var partLinks = [];

 var placeRelationships = response.getRelationships();

 for (var i = 0 ; i < placeRelationships.getItemCount() ; i++) {

 var place = placeRelationships.getItemByIndex(i);

 var partLinkRelationships = place.getRelationships();

 for (var j = 0; j < partLinkRelationships.getItemCount() ; j++) {

 partLinks.push(partLinkRelationships.getItemByIndex(j));

 }

 }

 if (partLinks.length > 0) {

 var resultItem = partLinks[0];

 for (var k = 1; k < partLinks.length; k++) {

 resultItem.appendItem(partLinks[k]);

 }

 return resultItem;

 }

 else {

 return [];

 }

 } else {

 aras.AlertError(response.getErrorDetail());

 return [];

 }

}

Task:

Obtain Places that have Part Links where number starts from “Part 1.”

Solution description:

Use the same request from the previous task but add a condition on the “Part Number” property of the “Part Link” item.

<Item type="Zone” id="...” action="cmf_getElement">

 <Relationships>

 <Item type="Place">

 <Relationships>

 <Item type="Part Link">

<Part_Number condition="like">Part 1%</Part_Number>

 </Item>

 </Relationships>

 </Item>

 </Relationships>

</Item>

Write a method that returns the Part Links for a given zone: (method paramenter name zoneId) returns its Part Links.

Method:

JavaScript

function getPartLinks(zoneId) {

 var innovator = aras.newIOMInnovator();

 // get all places and part links for particular zone

 var zoneElement = innovator.newItem(“Zone”, “cmf_getElement”);

 zoneElement.setAttribute(“id”, zoneId);

 var placeElement = innovator.newItem(“Place”);

 var partLinkElement = innovator.newItem(“Part Link”);

 partLinkElement.setProperty(“Part_Number”, “Part 1%");

 partLinkElement.setPropertyAttribute(“Part_Number”, “condition”, “like”);

 placeElement.addRelationship(partLinkElement);

 zoneElement.addRelationship(placeElement);

var response = zoneElement.apply();

 if (!response.isError()) {

 // we can use response.getItemsByXPath("//Item[@type='Place’]”);

 var places = [];

 var placeRelationships = response.getRelationships();

 for (var i = 0 ; i < placeRelationships.getItemCount() ; i++) {

 var place = placeRelationships.getItemByIndex(i);

 places.push(place);

 }

 return places;

 } else {

 aras.AlertError(response.getErrorDetail());

 return [];

 }

}

Task:

Update all zone numbers containing the specific substring: add “Restricted_” to the beginning of the “zone number”.

Solution description:

First, you need to get all “zone” elements in the document. You can then loop through the zone list to see if a zone number matches the given string and, if so, change the zone number.

For example the following is the result of the document modification if the match string is “A”.

Date Before	Date After

Write a method that, given a document Id and a match string (method parameter names documentId and template respectively), performs the document modification.

Method:

JavaScript

function makeZonesRestricted(documentId, template) {

 var innovator = aras.newIOMInnovator();

 // get all zones for the specific document

 var zoneElement = innovator.newItem(“Zone”, “cmf_getElement”);

 zoneElement.setProperty(“document_id”, documentId);

 var response = zoneElement.apply();

 if (response.isError()) {

 aras.AlertError(response.getErrorDetail());

 return;

 } else {

 // in the loop try to find “zone numbers” which contains substring(template)

 for (var i = 0; i < response.getItemCount() ; i++) {

 var item = response.getItemByIndex(i);

 var zoneNumber = item.getProperty(“Zone_Number”);

 if (zoneNumber.indexOf(template) > -1) {

 // update zone, add “Restricted_” prefix

 item.setAction(“cmf_updateElement”);

 item.setProperty(“Zone_Number”, “Restricted_” + zoneNumber);

 item.apply();

 }

 }

 }

}

Task:

Change element binding from one business object to another.

Solution description:

To update an element in the document you need to know the following:

Table 1: The document identifier

Table 2: The identifier of the element that you want to update

Table 3: The new business object identifier

In this example the element is “Part Link” and the business object is “Part.”

You are going to write a method that, given a document, a part link, and a new part identifier (method parameter names documentId, partLinkId and newPartId respectively), will replace the part that the part link points to with the new part. Figure 29 shows the modifications that are performed by the method.

Before: After:

Method:

JavaScript

function replacePartLink(documentId, partLinkId, newPartId) {

 var innovator = aras.newIOMInnovator();

 var partLinkElement = innovator.newItem(“Part Link”, “cmf_updateElement”);

 partLinkElement.setAttribute(“id”, partLinkId);

 partLinkElement.setProperty(“document_id”, documentId);

 partLinkElement.setProperty(“bound_item_id”, newPartId);

 partLinkElement.apply();

}

Task:

Set the text color for a given zone.

Solution description:

To set the style for an element property, you need to update the element.

Write a method that, given a document, a zone, and a color (method parameter names documentId, zoneId and color respectively), changes the text color of a zone to a given color. (Specify the color using standard hexidecimal Web notation. For instance, "#44ff00" is a green color).

Method:

JavaScript

function updateStyle(documentId, zoneId, color) {

 var innovator = aras.newIOMInnovator();

 var zoneElement = innovator.newItem(“Zone”, “cmf_updateElement”);

 zoneElement.setAttribute(“id”, zoneId);

 zoneElement.setProperty(“document_id”, documentId);

 // create cmf style object and set available styles

 var cmfStyle = innovator.newItem(“cmf_Style”);

 cmfStyle.setProperty(“text_color”, color);

 zoneElement.setPropertyAttribute(“Zone_Number”, “style”, cmfStyle.toString());

 // you should set value of property directly, otherwise it will be updated to empty value

 // for this purpose we need to get existing zone element with Zone Number property

 var existZoneElement = innovator.newItem(“Zone”, “cmf_getElement”);

 existZoneElement.setAttribute(“id”, zoneId);

 existZoneElement = existZoneElement.apply();

 zoneElement.setProperty(“Zone_Number”, existZoneElement.getProperty(“Zone_Number”));

 zoneElement.apply();

}

Task:

Delete all the warehouse “Places” that contain less then N “Part Links.”

Solution description:

Use the “cmf_getElement” action to get all the “Places” of the document. You can then loop through the places, deleting those with less than N part links.

Write a method that, given a warehouse document and a threshold (method parameter names documentId and n respectively), deletes the places that have too few part links.

Method

JavaScript

function deletePlacesByPartLinks(documentId, n) {

 var innovator = aras.newIOMInnovator();

 var placeElement = innovator.newItem(“Place”, “cmf_getElement”);

 placeElement.setProperty(“document_id”, documentId);

 var partLinkElement = innovator.newItem(“Part Link”);

 placeElement.addRelationship(partLinkElement);

 // find all “Places” with there “PartLinks”

 var response = placeElement.apply();

 if (!response.isError()) {

 for (var i = 0; i < response.getItemCount() ; i++) {

 var place = response.getItemByIndex(i);

 var partLinkRelationships = place.getRelationships();

 var partLinkCount = partLinkRelationships.getItemCount();

 if (partLinkCount < n) {

 // remove place using “cmf_deleteElement” 

 place.setAction(“cmf_deleteElement”);

 place.apply();

 }

 }

 } else {

 aras.AlertError(response.getErrorDetail());

 return;

 }

}

To configure a CMF document, follow the procedures described in the following sections.

1. Login to Aras innovator and select Administration -> ItemTypesfrom the TOC.
2. Create a new ItemType with the name Parts Warehouse. Give “TOC Access” for this item type, set appropriate “Permissions”, set “Can Add” identity.
3. Also add new property “name” for this item type (type: string, length: 32, required: true).

1. Go to Administration-> Content Modeling -> Content Types. The following menu appears:



2. Click Create New Content Type. The following window appears:



3. Enter the name Parts Warehouse Content Typein the Name field.
4. Select Parts Warehouse as the Linked Item Type.



5. Save the Content Type.

1. Add a new CMF Element by right clicking the Elements folder and selecting Add Element Type from the context menu.



2. The Element Type tab appears.



3. Enter Zone in the Name field for the newly created Element.
4. Add a Property Type for this element by clicking the right mouse button on the Zone Element and selecting Add Property Type from the context menu.



5. The Property Type page appears.



6. Select String from the dropdown list in the Data Type field.

Enter Zone Number in the Name field.

Enter 32 in the Data Length field.



7. Right click on the Zone element and select Add Child Element Type from the context menu.



8. Enter Place in the Name field for the Element Type and click Save.
9. Right click on the Place element and select Add Property Type from the context menu to create a new property type.
10. Select String in the Data Type field.
11. Enter Place Number in the Name field.
12. Enter 32 in the Data Length field.
13. Click Save.
14. Right click on the Place element to add a Child Element Type.



15. Select Add Child Element Type from the context menu. The Element Type page appears.



16. Enter Part Link in the Name field and click Save.
17. Right click on Part Link and select Add Property Type from the context menu.
18. Choose String from the dropdown list in the Data Type field.
19. Enter 32 in the Data Length field and click Save.

1. Right click Part Link and select Add Element Binding from the context menu.



2. The Binding element appears, as shown in Figure 42.



3. Select Part as a Referenced Type property.
4. Select Show Differences from the Tracking Mode dropdown list.
5. Select Current from the Resolution Mode dropdown list.
6. Select the Reference is required checkbox and click Save.
7. Select Pick Only from the New Element Mode dropdown list.

Click the New Property Binding icon



on the Property Bindings tab to add a Property Bindings relationship for the Element Binding.



Click the New Property Binding icon and click the



in the Referenced Property column. The Select Items Properties dialog appears.



8. Click the Run Search icon and select item_number from the property list.

Click the Document Element Property column and click the



to access the Search dialog.

9. Enter Part Number in the Name column and click the Search icon.

Select Part Number and click the



icon to select it.

Use the following procedure to add a new “View” for the Parts Warehouse Content Type:

1. Right click the View folder and select Add View from the context menu. The Select ItemType dialog appears:



2. Click OK. The Tabular View page appears.



3. Enter Part Warehouse View in the Name field and click Save.
4. Expand the Part Warehouse View tree and right-click Columns.
5. Select Add Column from the context menu. The tabular View Column window appears.



6. Enter Zone Number in the Header Title field.
7. Select Zone Number from the dropdown list in the Mapped Properties field.
8. Enter 300 in the Initial Width field and click Save.
9. Right click 1: Zone Number and select Add Column from the context menu to add another tabular view.
10. Enter Place Number in the Header Title and Mapped Properties fields.
11. Enter 300 in the Initial Width field and click Save.
12. Right click on the Place Number column and select Add column from the context menu.
13. Enter Part Number in the Header Title and Mapped Property fields.
14. Enter 300 in the Initial Width field and click Save.



15. Save, Unclaim and close Parts Warehouse Content Type.

1. Select Administration-> Forms. The following menu appears:



2. Click Search Forms. The Form Search grid appears.



Open the Parts Warehouse form and click



to claim the form for editing.

Select the Form Event tab and click the Add Methods icon



. The Search dialog box appears.

3. Search for and select the cmf_ShowContentType method. It appears in the Name column.
4. Click the cell in the Event column and select the onFormPopulated event.
5. Add the Name property to the form (if it does not already exist).



6. Save, Unclaim and Close the Form.

1. Go to Administration>ItemTypes in the TOC and select Search ItemTypes. The ItemTypes search grid appears.
2. Select Parts Warehouseand click Edit.

Click the Views tab, select Create Related from the dropdown list. Click the Create Item



icon to add a view named “Warehouse 1” and save.

3. Then go to “View” using the sidebar button. You should see the result of metadata configuration.

Configuration is completed.